Friday, May 4, 2012

Nozzle Orifice Measurements

After my previous blog, I've had some requests to measure the length of the nozzle orifice. Tonight, I made up a little stand (shown under the height gauge) that is designed to mount a nozzle in order to properly measure it's orifice length. The tip (obscured by the height gauge) has a steep taper that is designed to allow the nozzle to seat on inside edge of the orifice itself. Due to the shape, of the tip of the nozzle orifice measurement stand, it is entirely possible that the nozzle orifice length is slightly longer than the measurement that was observed as the very tip will most likely slightly enter the nozzle orifice itself. The length of this engagement is, unfortunately, very difficult to measure. The entire nozzle orifice measurement stand measures 1.6215 inches and all measurements took place on a granite surface plate with the same height gauge. (Please note that height gauges, of this variety, are generally not considered to have a precision greater than a couple of thousandths of an inch.)

I took each nozzle, listed below, and perched them on the stand. Then, I took the height gauge and took a measurement at the tip of the nozzle. The following measurements were observed:

Budaschnozzle: 1.631

MakerBot Mk V: 1.673

MakerGear: 1.655

J-Head: 1.671

Note: All measurements are in inches.

This will leave the following nozzle orifice lengths:

Budaschnozzle: 0.0095 (0.24mm)

MakerBot Mk V: 0.0515 (1.32mm)

MakerGear: 0.0335 (0.85mm)

J-Head: 0.0495 (1.26mm)

Note: These nozzles come from different manufactures, companies, etc., and these measurements may not have been requested, endorsed, etc., by them. So there.

Reducing the length of the nozzle orifice can increase the ooze. However, it was primarily done because, at that time, the J-Head had a reputation for having a very high extrusion pressure. Reducing the nozzle orifice length helped to reduce this pressure.